William H. COOPER

COOPER, BENNIGA, LARSON, ANDERSON, LANE, WILLIS, KNOLL, ABBAS, SMIDT, HOEL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/15/2008 at 10:31:55

November 16, 2002
Mason City Globe Gazette

CLEAR LAKE - William H. "Buster" Cooper, 87, of 7067 275th Way, Clear Lake, died Thursday (Nov. 14, 2002) at his home. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at Zion Lutheran Church, 112 N. Fourth St. in Clear Lake, with the Rev. Kermit Roisen and the Rev. Ed Bard, chaplain of Hospice of North Iowa, officiating. Graveside services will be 1:30 p.m. Monday at Madison Township Cemetery in Forest City. Visitation will be from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St. in Clear Lake, and then one hour before the service on Monday at the church. The family suggests memorials to Zion Lutheran Church or Hospice of North Iowa.

Buster was born April 18, 1915, in Kanawha, the son of John and Johanna (Benniga) Cooper. He graduated from Kanawha High School in 1934. He married Muriel Larson on Sept. 20, 1937, in Kanawha. They farmed in the Kanawha and Ventura area. He worked for Ventura Schools as custodian and bus driver for 10 years, and at the end of each school year, he would treat his kids on the bus to ice cream at his house. In 1967, they moved to Forest City, where he worked at Winnebago Industries, retiring in 1977. They moved to Mountain Home, Ark., living there until 1986, when they moved to Clear Lake. He was a member of Zion Lutheran Church. He enjoyed being outdoors, his garden, growing flowers, his special cat Cuddles and especially spending time with his family.

Left to cherish his memory is his wife, Muriel Cooper, of Clear Lake; two children, Wayne Cooper and his wife, Jean, of Des Moines, and Vicki Anderson and her husband, William, of Clear Lake; six grandchildren, Gregory Cooper, of Oskaloosa, Michelle Lane, of Omaha, Neb., Kimberly Cooper, of Des Moines, Chad Willis, of Chicago, Stephanie Willis, of Ames, and Brent Willis, of Clear Lake; three great-grandchildren, Jamie, Katie and Emily; and one sister, Gertrude Knoll and her husband, Bud, of Mason City. He was preceded in death by his parents; a son, Dennis Cooper; seven brothers, Ubbo, Arthur, Gratus, George, John, Albert and James Cooper, and three sisters, Annie Abbas, Hattie Smidt and Grace Hoel. Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel.